Friday, March 25, 2005

Naomi Klein: Sgrena's car shot from behind

I mentioned in passing yesterday that US military command in Iraq has prevented Italian police from examining the car in which Giuliana Sgrena was wounded and Nicola Calipari killed. Today, Naomi Klein tells Democracy Now why that might be:

NAOMI KLEIN: One of the things that we keep hearing is that she was fired on on the road to the airport, which is a notoriously dangerous road. In fact, it's often described as the most dangerous road in the world. So this is treated as a fairly common and understandable incident that there would be a shooting like this on that road. And I was on that road myself, and it is a really treacherous place with explosions going off all the time and a lot of checkpoints. What Giuliana told me that I had not realized before is that she wasn't on that road at all. She was on a completely different road that I actually didn't know existed. It's a secured road that you can only enter through the Green Zone and is reserved exclusively for ambassadors and top military officials. So, when Calipari, the Italian security intelligence officer, released her from captivity, they drove directly to the Green Zone, went through the elaborate checkpoint process which everyone must go through to enter the Green Zone, which involves checking in obviously with U.S. forces, and then they drove onto this secured road. And the other thing that Giuliana told me that she's quite frustrated about is the description of the vehicle that fired on her as being part of a checkpoint. She says it wasn't a checkpoint at all. It was simply a tank that was parked on the side of the road that opened fire on them. There was no process of trying to stop the car, she said, or any signals. From her perspective, they were just -- it was just opening fire by a tank. The other thing she told me that was surprising to me was that they were fired on from behind. Because I think part of what we're hearing is that the U.S. soldiers opened fire on their car, because they didn't know who they were, and they were afraid. It was self-defense, they were afraid. The fear, of course, is that their car might blow up or that they might come under attack themselves. And what Giuliana Sgrena really stressed with me was that she -- the bullet that injured her so badly and that killed Calipari, came from behind, entered the back seat of the car. And the only person who was not severely injured in the car was the driver, and she said that this is because the shots weren't coming from the front or even from the side. They were coming from behind, i.e. they were driving away. So, the idea that this was an act of self-defense, I think becomes much more questionable. And that detail may explain why there's some reticence to give up the vehicle for inspection. Because if indeed the majority of the gunfire is coming from behind, then clearly, they were firing from -- they were firing at a car that was driving away from them.Unless she misspoke, Klein says it was a single bullet which injured Sgrena and killed Calipari. If so, then presumably it passed through her shoulder and entered his temple as he was attempting to shield her.

And as we know, the military detail which fired on the car had been assigned to outgoing Ambassador of Death, John Negroponte. But the just a bunch of nervous kids at the checkpoint fiction dies hard.

By the way, it's confirmed: Bush does have a "bald thing." From last Wednesday's Globe and Mail, on the weird scenes inside Crawford's Coffee Shop:

Mr. Bush comes by the restaurant occasionally, the last time was the Friday after U.S. Thanksgiving. The routine is always the same.

"The Secret Service comes first. They secure the area. We turn the fuel pumps off and they bring in the dog. They're very discreet.

"Then they come in and he signs autographs and visits with the people," she said, bringing a framed collection of 12 photos from the November visit.

1264 Comments:

But that doesn't really jive with the story that Calipari threw himself IN FRONT OF Sgrena to protect her. Would it? He would have had to throw himself across her such that his head was in front of her shoulder such that the bullet went through her shoulder and into his head.

Jeff, please forward the Naomi Klein interview to any mainstream media sources you're in contact with. (Maybe the Globe and Mail?) This stuff demands to be known by everyone, and the sheer, blatant criminality of the Bush Gang is now very far beyond a joke.

It might not too optimistic to imagine that this case might eventually bring them down, if it's not allowed to die. They had said the report would be released after "3-4 weeks", i.e. no later than April Fool's Day. The date has now been put back to mid-April. Clearly, they're struggliing to come up with a plausible expalnation, or else they can't (yet) manipulate the material evidence convincingly.

Today, German and Italian media - including Corriere della Sera, Der Spiegel and the website of the main Austrian TV station, ORF - have been reporting that the Italian Justice Minister has demanded access to the car, after "US command" had postponed an inspection of the car by Italian police investigators - "for security reasons". What "security reasons" could those possibly be? Seriously.

"But that doesn't really jive with the story that Calipari threw himself IN FRONT OF Sgrena to protect her."

If they were being shot at from more than one direction, it would be both natural and rational for Calipari to protect the presumed target by covering her from the only direction available to him, i.e. the front and the side.

The photos published on the web show a punctured front left wheel.

Anyway: even if they were being shot at only from behind, it would have made sense to try and drag her down and away from the back window. And he only had seconds at his disposal, if that.

It's an interesting phenomenon, isn't it? The MSM swallows unquestioningly the Bush diktat - and then, when it's proven blatantly false, what are they to do? Disobey their corporate paymasters and run corrections - which also involve admitting that they were wrong, and dupes to boot? Or just let it scuttle on along at DemocracyNow and the major news outlets of every country in the world save this one, sure in the knowledge that the only people who'll find out the truth are the people who already knew to look for it somewhere else than the U.S. MSM.

The Italian journalist story "should shurely indicate to all of us on "the other side", exactly what the size, scope and nature of the evil that we confront truly is." ? I wish this were true for me. After reading extensively yesterday about black triangles, chemtrails, population reduction plans going back to the early Theosophical and eugenics movement, Santanism, and looking for writhing cobra like micro worms in Qtips, I am more exhausted and confused than ever! Somehow the Italian journalist story seems refreshingly tame by comparison!Thank you again, Mr.Wells for your very inspiring and thought provoking blog. It is also very refreshing to hear that Military enlistment quotas are way down for the month, and that assylum seeking military personel are in the news.

The Italian journalist story "should shurely indicate to all of us on "the other side", exactly what the size, scope and nature of the evil that we confront truly is." ? I wish this were true for me. After reading extensively yesterday about black triangles, chemtrails, population reduction plans going back to the early Theosophical and eugenics movement, Santanism, and looking for writhing cobra like micro worms in Qtips, I am more exhausted and confused than ever! Somehow the Italian journalist story seems refreshingly tame by comparison!Thank you again, Mr.Wells for your very inspiring and thought provoking blog. It is also very refreshing to hear that Military enlistment quotas are way down for the month, and that assylum seeking military personel are in the news.

There are photos here http://snipurl.com/do9d (#4, galleria di foto) of the Sgrena/Calipari car. There certainly doesn't seem to be as much damage to it as one expected after Sgrena stated that they were hit with a "rain of bullets."

There's screaming from Washington for a thorough, detailed trasparent, etc etc. investigation of this Hariri carbombing but when it comes to Sgrena of course there's no car, no cellphone conversation records, and no inquiry.

If you imagine yourself in the back seat of the car, with the woman you are rescuing, when the shooting started.

You can not get behind her in the car. You try to drag her down and cover her with your body and your body armor. But, the man was hit, in the head, and killed, as soon as the shooting started. Having only had time to move toward her.

Think about it. It is likely he did not know what direction shots were coming from. This sort of thing happens very, very fast.

The US refusal to give over the car to be inspected is outrageous and seems to indicate they have something to hide.

In light of revelations concerning where the car was when fired upon, and that the shots were fired from behind, there is NO excuse for not co-operating with an Italian investigation.

Italy is an ally, remember. One of the few left.

A forensic analysis of the car will answer a lot of questions not open to political interpretation, by either side of the issues..

As soon as I read that the US wouldn't let anyone examine the car , I knew the score : at the very least , Sgrena knows what the US did in/to Fallujah , and they didn't want her story to get out . IT IS ONLY THE GUILTY THAT BLOCK , THWART , OR OTHERWISE IMPEDE INVESTIGATIONS . Remember : the Bush administration tried all they could to limit or stop the investigations in to the September 11 attacks . . . Remember . . .

Okay, I've been searching my paper trail and can't find the original report (which I had printed thinking this thing might "disappear") - I probably tossed it when the story stayed up for several days. Anyway, as near as I can remember, the first reports quoted Sgrena as saying that Calipari was leaning over to talk to her and then he suddenly slumped over and she realized he was dead. That scenario would fit perfectly with surprise fire from the rear and one bullet that went through her shoulder and into his temple. I'll keep looking for the report so I can reference the source.

Interesting that her original story included claims of "a hail of gunfire", "going off all around her", etc. Now we're down to a single bullet. Yes, she may have been caught under fire from U.S. personnel, but discrepencies exist in all sides of the story so far. To all: practice some due diligence and research multiple sources for news.

Also interesting that photos published of the car show extremely little damage - and intact windows on all sides. Not exactly the result of fire from a tank of all things. Hell, for all we know, someone in the car misfired their own weapon. What you have to accept, is that any number of scenerios are possible.

The "hail" of gunfire was probably a bad translation - I've also read "burst". She speaks Italian, you know. The claim of 3-400 bullets was the driver's (an Italian intelligence agent), not hers. For what we know, they may have fired into the air. That the shots came from a "tank" (probably a Bradley) does not mean that they were shot by a cannon - these vehicles have mounted machine guns. I've followed this story closely, and she has not changed her story once.

The facts remain:1. The Toyota was driving at 25 mph or slower at the time of the incident.2. The shots did not come from the front of the vehicle, as the photos testify, but from the right side and/or behind, incidentally the sides that were not shown on the photos3. They were on a secure, special road that connected the heavily fortified Green Zone to the airport. Iraqis, including suicide bombers, do not have access to that road. The Italians would not be on that road if the proper US authorities had not given them permission to use it. A breakdown of communication along a road normally used only by VIPs is very unlikely, and if true a testimony of shocking incompetence4. Italian investigators have been barred from examining the car5. The Pentagon lied blatantly about them "speeding towards a checkpoint"6. According to the Pentagon, the patrol that fired the shots was assigned to provide security for ambassador Necroponte7. The Italian official that Calipari was communicating with was reportedly "standing next to an American colonel" at the airport at the time of the incident. Which again does not indicate that the Italians had not informed the American authorities of their mission and movements

Yesterday, Al Jazeera reported that an Al-Arabiya journalist had been killed by US soldiers. Again, he was reportedly "speeding towards a checkpoint".

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